Danish biotech firm, Bavarian Nordic, has been revealed as the company to deliver the European Union with around 110,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine.

The EU Commission said on Tuesday that it had signed a deal with Bavarian Nordic, marking the first time that the EU budget was used for the direct purchase of vaccines.

The Commission said that it would make the shots rapidly available to all EU member states, Norway and Iceland.

Around 900 cases of monkeypox had been reported in 19 EU countries, Norway and Iceland since May 18.

Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.

With the eradication of smallpox in 1980 and subsequent cessation of smallpox vaccination, monkeypox has emerged as the most important orthopoxvirus for public health.

Monkeypox primarily occurs in central and west Africa, often in proximity to tropical rainforests, and has been increasingly appearing in urban areas. Animal hosts include a range of rodents and non-human primates.

Various animal species have been identified as susceptible to monkeypox virus which includes rope squirrels, tree squirrels, Gambian pouched rats, dormice, non-human primates and other species.

Uncertainty remains on the natural history of monkeypox virus and further studies are needed to identify the exact reservoir(s) and how virus circulation was maintained in nature.

(Reuters/NAN)